Article ‘Healthy Lives, Health People: The Strategy for Public Health in England’

Professor Richard Parish, Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Public Health has written a paper exploring the potential and challenges that face the implementation of  The White Paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People.   He addresses the wider social, economic and environmental determinants “The potential is there, but implementation will be the crucial test”.   

Published with permission from http://www.onmedica.com/

Governments come and go, but there are always challenges to public health. The health consequences of modern day society and associated lifestyles, the emergence of new communicable diseases, such as pandemic influenza and HIV, or the re-emergence of those from the past, such as TB, combine to ensure that the need for an effective public health system will always be there. Add to these the growing impact of climate change on population health and it is clear that any government, irrespective of political colour, must keep public health high on the agenda or face the consequences.

The White Paper, Healthy Lives, Healthy People (1), was published by the Coalition Government on 30th November 2010. It sets out a framework for population health, reflecting the three major domains of health protection, health improvement, and the quality of health services provision. It follows the earlier White Paper, published in July 2010 (2), which focuses predominantly on the wider issues of health and social care. The Health Bill to be presented to Parliament in January 2011 will provide the necessary enabling legislation for both White Papers.

Healthy Lives, Healthy People is driven by a philosophy of individual responsibility for health, although it acknowledges the importance of wider social, economic and environmental factors. It acts as the Government’s response to the Marmot Review on the social determinants of health (3), accepting the thrust of Sir Michael’s recommendations. It remains to be seen whether the Government will implement the full range of actions necessary to address the wider social influences on health, given the emphasis on individual responsibility.
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